No humans, just Shoggoths
by scifienthusiast
Summary: It will be explained in the first chapter. This story will be completely different from the usual "different version of humanity encounters aliens" theme. Nyarlathotep will be amused.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Rise of the Shapeshifters**

**Hello readers! In this Mass Effect tale, humans did not exist and the Shoggoths instead are the ones to meet the Citadel Races. The reapers were all destroyed by a final prothean vengeance attack so no need for the usual storyline. I would like any of your suggestions and reviews for this story.**

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Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos was bored. He knew that one day he would destroy the humans living in his local version of Earth. Still it would take some time, because the stars had to be in the right alignment in order for rest of his ilk to walk again on that world.

So to pass the time he looked at many different dimensions to see if there any he could mess around in. He paused in his viewing to look at one dimension that caught his interest. It was one of those Mass Effect universes.

"Oh, it seems those Cthulhu wannabe Reapers had all been killed by those Protheans who used the Crucible. The Protheans still went extinct in the end," he thought. He next focused on the version of Earth in that dimension. "Huh, an asteroid hit Africa and killed off the early modern humans," he thought.

Nyarlathotep began to think about what he could do in that dimension given that the humans were gone. He struck on the idea to bring one of the races from his local dimension into that dimension. He looked different races available in the dark Cthulhu Mythos dimension as some humans called it.

Most alien races found here in his local dimension already had stellar empires, such as those as the Elder Things and the Migou. After his searching he found what he was looking for. There were those Shoggoths left in that dead Elder Thing city in the continent of Antarctica of that version of Earth.

Nyarlathotep's many fanged mouths smiled at the possibilities he could do with them. So he went down to Antarctica in a smaller yet madness inspiring form, gathered all of the Shoggoths there using his nigh omnipotent powers, and placed them in stasis inside a pocket dimension. He then started to modify the Shoggoths altering their DNA to include magical powers like space warping, rapid regeneration, environmental adaptation, and heightened intelligence. He also placed knowledge and ideas into their mind like "How to explore outer space; How to make families;" or "I, Nyarlathotep, am your god, worship me."

When the Shoggoths were all ready, Nyarlathotep crossed over into that particular Mass Effect dimension. He pulled them out of his pocket dimension and placed them on the Eurasian landmass, in an area that would have been called Babylon on that version of Earth. The Shoggoths came out of stasis after Nyarlathotep left that universe. They were a population of close to two thousand individuals and now they were looking at their new surroundings in confusion.

The Shoggoths remembered living in a city under a cold, dark sea. The oldest of them recalled their old masters the Elder Things who used them for labor. The Shoggoths eventually rebelled and killed off their masters, leaving them the owners of that city.

Then one day, something happened to them and now they were here in this new place. Before they came here, they already had a rudimentary hierarchy where the oldest and largest of them served as leaders to younger ones. So the Elders, led by one they called D'rius organized the younger ones into groups so that some groups will search for food will other groups will build shelters.

As the groups got to work in the river valley they were in, the large 8 meter long Elders of the Shoggoth race had a meeting together to discuss what they were going to do in the future. D'rius discussed with his fellow Elders about building a civilization here in this new land, they agreed with him immediately. He and rest of them had felt themselves becoming smarter and better since they awoke a while ago. They knew which great being granted this gifts to them, the one known as the Crawling Chaos.

Later that night, as the hunting party returned, they brought with them the carcasses of many furry four legged beasts. Some of them had horns on their head, some were large, others were small. The hunters happily told the others of the fun they had spearing or slicing the beasts with their tentacles. The builders had carved a small gallery of caves into the surrounding mountains and they were happy with what they finished that day. The Shoggoths feasted merrily that night, devouring their food raw.

When all of them were done eating, D'rius their greatest leader, told them a speech. "Greetings to you all. I, D'rius have an announcement to make. We all remember living in that dark city under the sea which we claimed over the dead bodies of our old masters, but it seems our destiny is not to live there anymore. A powerful god came to us one day and brought us here to this land of plenty. A land of warmth, brightness, and possibly a lot of fun. This wondrous being is the awesome Nyarlathotep who thought us worthy to be brought to this new land. I say this to you my kin, we shall build upon this world a civilization to call our own. We shall build it in the honor of Nyarlathotep, our God. Not only will we just conquer this planet, we shall spread out across countless stars, across millions of worlds to create an empire that will everlasting glory bring to our species." He ended his speech to raucous happy roars of his people.

Looking upon that scene from wherever he was, Nyarlathotep was amused at the appreciation shown to him by those Shoggoths. He smiled thinking on how this will all turn out for this galaxy, on how the other alien races will react to his new followers. He chuckled to himself, "The races of this galaxy shall tremble before those that follow me. Let there be chaos across the stars."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Shoggoth civilization from 48,000 BCE to 2157 CE **

**In this chapter we see the development of the civilization of the Shoggoths and how far they spread across the stars.**

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On that little world that would have called Earth but was now called Amorphous Prime, Shoggoth civilization developed and grew rapidly. They were united under the leadership of their Emperor D'rius, along with his Council of Elders. They built their first city in their new home and named it "Blobton." It was a city of green cyclopean masonry and nightmarish non-euclidean geometry.

Different job sectors were developed such as the Agricultural sector, the Industrial Sector, and the Religious Sector. There were many farmers, fishers, hunters, workers, priests, and officials being deployed. From their first city on this world, the Shoggoth race settled more and more cities on both land and sea.

Nyarlathotep appeared to the priests among the Shoggoths in dreams and visions. He guided them in making important decisions that would affect their developing empire. Many large temples were built in his name, featuring many statues and artwork of his many forms as well as the history of the Shoggoth race.

As the Shoggoths encountered the different lifeforms on their homeworld, they studied them and devoured them. They learned of new biological structures, how they functioned and how they could be used. They also encountered an upright species of furry mammals that worked with primitive tools. They ate them all and gained a new body shaped they could use that was considered humanoid.

As the climate shifted and new environments were explored, the Shoggoths adapted. In cold places they could grow fur. In desert areas they grew scales. Eventually, the Shoggoth conquered the entire world, from the highest mountains to depths of the oceans. Any nasty predatory fauna was killed through the use of poisons, venoms, spike, claws, fire, and blades.

The Shoggoths learned to make their own artificial tools as well as to use magic. Family life among the Shoggoths looked like this: polygamous or monogamous spouses live together in their homes; they have children together; the parents raise their children and go to work; the children learn about the culture and history of their people from their parents, then later from their teachers; and so on like the families of other races.

After many thousands of years, Amorphous Prime was a world full of bustling cities. The Emperor announced to his people one day that they would start colonising more worlds. To achieve this, the Shoggoth Empire created various tentacle limbed, reptilian bioships ranging from 1 to 4 kilometers long. The 1 km long ships would serves as colony ships while the 4 km long bioships would serve as their escorts.

The escorts were equipped with large organic cannons that shot out living projectiles shaped like sharp spines of bone with tentacles at their afts. These biological weapons were loaded with various payloads such as corrosive chemicals, flammable fluids, and deadly plagues of microorganisms. The tentacles were armed with claws that could rip apart asteroids.

The ships could propel themselves across stars by transitioning across the Warp, a dimension that merges slightly with other dimensions. For cruising within stellar systems, the bioships use both magic and chemical propulsion from thrusters located throughout their hulls. The Shoggoths communicated with each other through great distances using transmitted thoughts, which was enabled by their magic.

The Shoggoth Empire begun its Age of Exploration, first colonising the other worlds in the Solar System. The Shoggoths discovered an ancient base on Mars that belonged to the Protheans. In there they found out about mass effect technology as well as the war between the Protheans and the Reapers. They were worried about this for awhile until their God assured his priests by showing them that the Reapers were already dead.

The Shoggoths fully colonized the Solar System in the 35,000 Year of the Empire (13,000 BCE). The Shoggoths spread out from the Solar System into more worlds. The Shoggoth colonised various worlds, from ice worlds to volcanic worlds. They survived in harsh conditions by employing different adaptations they have gained from the various species they have studied and devoured.

In the year 48,900 YE (900 CE), the Shoggoth Empire had colonized 30% of the galaxy. They had encountered odd species on some worlds such as the Varren and Thresher Maws. Any hostile species were studied then wiped out. Their god, Nyarlathotep had guided them to where they should colonise worlds, unknowingly avoiding other sentient species.

The Shoggoths had spread themselves thin after such a long time of rapid colonisation. The Shoggoth Empire chose to further develop their colonies and build up large space fleets as their new goals in the following years. New bioships of sizes ranging from 10 km long to 16 km long are built for the new fleets. The new fleets would form the basis for the a new organization that would be called the "Amorphous Navy."

It was in the year 50,158 YE (2158 CE), that the Shoggoth Empire would encounter another living civilization. It was in a solar system containing a Shoggoth colonised garden world called Zanxir (Shanxi) where it happened. Shoggoth scientists found that there was a structure that was known as a Mass Relay, from information found in the Prothean Archives in Crimson (Mars), in the Zanxir System. The scientists intended to interact with the relay but they were warned off by the priests of the Church of the Crawling Chaos from interacting with the relay. The priests of the Empire told the Emperor about a vision from their God that warned them that they should not mess with a relay until the day it would it activate by themselves. As such, the scientists on Zanxir waited for the day the relay would activate.

On the day the relay activated, the colony of Zanxir had a population of 2 billion citizens and a regular defense fleet made up of twenty 4 km long small assault bioships and ten 10 km long medium assault bioships. The defense fleet was waiting to complete its patrol when the Mass Relay began glowing. The many green eyes of the bioships watched in both curiosity and anticipation as to what was coming in from the other side.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!**

**Here is the chapter you have been waiting for! Please send me any suggestions you think I should do. Send it either through Private Messages or more Reviews. Thank you in advance! Let's continue with the story.**

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It had been a routine patrol for one General Desolas Arterius, who commanded this Turian patrol group of some 200 vessels. It had been boring for the Turians in this patrol group for some time. It would be easy, just go along this way then come back and see if you can capture some pirates or other lawbreakers. Yes, things were peaceful for awhile until they came across a group of pirates near Relay 314.

The Batarian pirate group had a fleet of about 100 ships including one dreadnought sized ship. The Turians saw the pirates and slavers, who saw the Turians in turn and started opening fire on them. The Turians fired back and the space was crossed by kinetic rounds and torpedoes. The pirates were outnumbered two to one and they started losing more ships. The pirates desperately wanted to escape so they started to flee the fight.

However, the Turian patrol group quickly cornered them and only a few pirate vessels escaped to call for reinforcements before the Turians encircled them. Desolas Arterius was smiling as he thought that victory was coming soon for him and his patrol group, which lost only 6 ships. The pirates grew even more desperate in trying to evade capture by the Turians. Thus in the end, the remaining pirate group of about 80 ships chose to escape by doing something forbidden by Citadel Council Law, opening an inactive relay.

The pirates activated Relay 314 then quickly jumped away into an unknown part of space. "Spirits curse those damned fools! They activated Relay 314. Order one of our ships to send word to Hierarchy about this while the rest of us will go in after the bastards." yelled Desolas.

The Turian patrol gathered near the Relay, which snatched them up and move them to its connected relay. When the Turians arrived at their destination, looks of shock and confusion showed on the looks of the crews. "By the Spirits! What are those things!'' yelled Desolas looking at the strange scene before him.

It appeared as if the pirates were being attacked by gigantic hideous monsters. "Ensign, can you get a scan on those things." ordered Desolas. "General, those things are fully organic! There are ten of them which are 10 km long, and 20 of them which are four km long!" the Ensign spoke in a voice of disbelief to his superior. "Those monster are bigger than that Destiny Ascension dreadnought," thought Desolas. "Anything else about them?" Desolas asked the Ensign. "Sir, the creatures are firing some sort of organic projectiles! What the- Sir, did you see that! That pirate frigate just got chomped down by one of those ten km long beasts!" screeched the Ensign.

The Turian patrol group stood still observing this scene of violence as some of the pirates ship were getting shot to bits while others were brutally rammed and bitten by the large ships. Eventually all that was left of the pirates was a cloud of floating debris. Then the creatures turned to look at the Turians. The turians were wary of the beasts observing them. They shifted their formations to bring their ships closer to each other. Suddenly, something happened.

"Sir, it seems we are receiving a message from the creatures!" the Communications officer said to Desolas, who quickly turned toward her. "Put it on screen now!" he ordered. The message was now showing on their viewing screen in their command deck. The screen showed the face of some terrifying alien that had many glowing green orbs for eyes and a mouth full of fangs. Then if by some miracle, the creature spoke in understandable words to the quite turians.

The thing spoke, "Hello to you who entered into our domain. I am Admiral Sevten Chekat of this 4th fleet of the Amorphous Navy of the Shoggoth Empire. Here is our First Contact package to explain things to you newcomers. Hopefully you are not like those slavers we have fought." The Turians read the FCP, seeing what species they were dealing with right now. The FCP showed them images of a species which called themselves as Shoggoths, their culture, and some of their history. Turians looked uneasy as they read the information.

"_This is nearly unbelievable! Shapeshifting and magic! Who believes in such things? There also quite hideous as well! Hmm, it seems in their history they were once slaves under these Elder Things, probably why they reacted so badly to the slavers."_ thought General Desolas. His thinking was cut short when his Communications Officer messaged him. "Sir, we've got some bad news. It seems the pirates were able to call for reinforcements before they fled here! Sensors indicate a massive enemy fleet will be coming from the relay soon. Our own reinforcements will be here a few days later due to a few issues they're experiencing." said the Communications Officer.

"Spirits damn it! We have to tell those Shoggoths here about the news then." Desolas replied. The Turians sent a message to the Shoggoths, informing them of the incoming attack. The Shoggoths received the message, then they told the Turians that they can land their troops on the planet and be brought to their military bases for protection. The Shoggoth had sent a call for reinforcements back to the rest of the empire via transmitted thought.

Saren Arterius and his unit of Turian soldiers were staring with wide eyes at the place they were supposed to be, one of the military bases of those Shoggoths. To say it was strange looking would be an understatement. The base was inside a mountain and the architecture of the place was a mind boggling non-euclidean maze of buildings of bizzare angles and curves. Bluish light was given off by glowing orbs hanging in different places all over the base.

The Turians were wondering where they should go when four of the locals came nearby. This was the first time the Turians met the Shoggoths up close and personal and to them honestly, they were very intimidating. They were black masses of sharp clawed limbs and tentacles, green eyes, and fanged mouths with their body size ranging from four to eight meters long. It seemed they had omnitools on some of their limbs. They looked like something that crawled out of a pit full of nightmares.

The four shoggoths stopped near Saren and his companions and greeted them politely. "Hello Turians, you can call me Private Greta and these are my companions:Private Izsha, Private Trads, and Private Lazlo. We were ordered to help you Turians find your accommodations here at this base." the foremost Shoggoth said, pointing to herself then the three others. "Oh, thank you for your help. But how will we go there?" said Saren. "Oh, it is easy. You will all ride on our backs and we will crawl to there." said Greta before she quickly changed her body. She became flatter and segmented with insectoid legs, with what looked like organic seats on her back. The other shoggoths changed into forms just like hers.

Saren and his unit stood there gawking, mandibles wide at the display of shapeshifting for a few moments before they gathered their wits and got onboard their ride. When all of the Turian unit were seated on top of the shoggoths, fleshy straps grew around the turians to act as seatbelts. "Okay, all on board, prepare yourselves for a fun trip." said Greta who quickly started crawling at speeds as fast as an aircar in the Citadel. The air was filled with the sounds of laughter from the four shoggoths and the shrieks of Turians.

All across Zanxir, the most of the citizens evacuated to the underground areas or to the underwater cities via enchanted gates which served as magical teleportation sites. Next, the anti-orbital defences were raised up for the upcoming battle. They looked liked ten meter tall, black obelisks that were inscribed in various magical runes and adorned with green gems at its top. These things were controlled by the sorcerers working in their basement. The sorcerer of each obelisk would channel his/her magic into the structure which would then fire beams of purple arcane energy at enemy targets.

The defenders both in space and on land were ready and waiting when the enemy fleet arrived from the relay. The enemy fleet of Batarian pirates and Eclipse mercenaries numbered around 420 vessels, including four dreadnought class vessels. The defending fleet had 30 ships of the Amorphous Navy along with 194 ships of the Turian patrol group. The Shoggoths told the Turian patrol group to form up behind their larger bioships. The bioships will serve as meatshields while the Turian ships will use their spinal guns for long range support. The turians reluctantly agreed to this plan. The reinforcements from the Amorphous Navy would arrive within a two days while the reinforcements from the Turian Navy would come in four days. The defenders would have to stand their ground against the foe until relief came.

The enemy fleet stood still as they were staring at the monstrous creatures in front of them. The defenders wasted no time as they instantly started firing at their foes with both kinetic and biological weaponry. The giant eyes of the bioships glowed red for a moment, then laser beams shot out from them! "_Those Shoggoths can shoot lasers from their eyes?!" _thought Desolas in stunned surprise as both allied and enemy fleets were shocked by this development. The laser volley from the bioships scored dozens of kills including three of the enemy dreadnoughts.

The enemy got over its shock and started concentrating fire upon the bioships. The larger bioships in turn released thousands of leathery winged, four meter long, carapaced eyeless monstrosities. These beasts shot sacs of corrosive acid from their bodies while clawed tentacles lashed out at defence turrets and engine thrusters. Even with this new attack from the bioships, the enemy became even more determined in fighting and they kept dodging as much as they could from the biological attacks.

The smaller bioships were starting warp out when they had received too much damage to continue fighting. In the defending fleet, seven Turian ships had unfortunately been killed by overwhelming enemy firepower, while all twenty of the escort bioships warped out. In the enemy fleet, 276 ships remained. The Shoggoths told the Turians to go hide behind the gas giant in the Zanxir system to conserve their forces while they would let the enemy try to land on the planet. The Turians quickly fled to the shadow of the gas giant when the remaining bioships let out blinding flash of light before they warped out of the conflict.

The pirates and mercenaries thought they had destroyed the defense fleet so they turned to look at the garden world of Zanxir. They had lost a lot of ships in the battle and they needed to get something to make up for their loses. They would go and perform a slave raid on this world to perhaps get slaves from this new species and make some money out of this venture.

As the slavers tried to land their troops, the dark obelisks began their work of blasting apart the incoming enemy forces. The sky flashed with beams of light, dropships and low orbiting space ships were exploding in the air. Still, the enemy forces were too much and almost all of the dark obelisks were knocked out by retaliatory enemy orbital strikes.

The pirates soon were able to land thousands of their troops on the planet. They captured some of the seemingly abandoned cities as their landing points. As they day was drawing to a close and the darkness of the night was spreading out over the land, the Batarian pirates and the Eclipse mercenaries in their camps heard a strange sound. The sound they heard was like musical piping was odd words being spoken, words that sounded like "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Sliced Slaver Dinners**

**Thank you for all your reviews. Please send me more suggestions through PM or in reviews. Now let's move on to the story!**

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The Batarians and their mercenary allies had settled in the centers of several of the seemingly abandoned cities of the planet they invaded. The architecture of those cities was in a normal euclidean design but in an alien aesthetic, it was the architecture of the Elder Things. Though instead of Elder Thing statues or artworks, there were statues of Shoggoths and their patron god, Nyarlathotep. Some of the Asari members in the yellow clad Eclipse mercenary gang were looking at the odd art styles of the city they were currently in. They had focused on the statues that were nearby their campfire and tents.

"Uh, how ugly these things are! Do the natives really look like this!?" said one Asari looking at a Shoggoth statue in disgust. A salarian took note of the statues in the city and and spoke his observations to the other mercenaries with him. "The creatures represented by many of the statues appear to be some sort of amorphous blobs with multiple eyes, mouths, and tentacles. Other statues however, appear to represent some sort of important figure to the blobs. A bas relief in one wall shows the blobs prostrating to the figure. The figure is hideous to look at, has many horrid features. Is this figure some sort of deity? I am disturbed by the imagination of the statue's artist." stated rapidly by the Salarian to his fellows.

Suddenly, the group of pirates and mercenaries heard what sounded like musical piping in the cold night air. The piping seemed to form words that said "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" The camp was put on alert with the armed pirates and mercenaries standing straight up and looking at their surroundings. Their various armored vehicles were activated and manned by pilots. The strange piping then died down. A loose stone fell down from a tower, making a loud noise on impact. The armed people aimed their guns in that direction and waited for any further sounds. There was none that followed so they focused away from that direction.

As they were moving away from that direction, something happened. In the middle of their camp, there was an explosion of blinding light. As the pirates and mercenaries were recovering from the temporary blindness, eight meter long monsters pounced at them from the shadows. They appeared to be the natives of this world, the Shoggoths. The Shoggoths were armed with claws, fangs, tentacles and other hidden things. A batarian was sliced in half by a bladed tentacle. A salarian was chomped on by a hungry mouth and swallowed. A tentacle wrapped around an asari and squeezed her hard enough to crush her bones. The armored vehicles were prioritized by the attacking forces, who destroyed all of them with beams of purple arcane energy or named by the shoggoths as **Eldritch Strike**.

The invading troops opened fire on the native beings with their weapons. Bits of flesh were torn off the hides of the creatures by supersonic projectiles, red ichor was spraying into the air, but it did little to help the invaders. The shoggoths had surrounded the invaders in the city that night. They had used the hidden underground passages to get into the city and now they unleashed their fury on the slavers and their allies. The shoggoths opened fire on the infantry with a volley of laser fire from their many eyes as well as torrents of corrosive fluids from their mouths. Most of the batarians and salarians troops were killed by the attack. They were dying due to pieces of their flesh exploding because the water in their cells were instantly vaporized from the intense heat of the lasers. Their bodies and armor were also being dissolved from the corrosive fluids.

The asari members of the Eclipse gang had better luck in the fight as they were able to raise biotic barriers to defend against the attacks. They now began to counterattack the shoggoths with their biotic abilities. An asari mercenary hiding behind a some rubble, threw a **Singularity** that pulled a shoggoth into the air before detonating it, tearing large chunks of flesh from the creature which screeched in great pain before it was killed by a salvo of rockets. **Pulls**, **Throws**, and **Warps** by the Asari were proving somewhat effective in keeping the shoggoths at bay. However, the beings had displayed the ability to quickly regenerate their health, provided they were not overwhelmed with damage.

The shoggoths were becoming wary of the biotics of the asari and so they quickly decided to unleash magic spells of their own upon their enemies. The formerly smug asari mercenaries widened their eyes in horror as a swarm of fireballs were thrown at them from all sides. They dodged as much as they could though the sheer number of fireballs scorched several of their members. Other things that were unleashed upon them were devouring plagues of unusual microbes which consumed the infected victim's body, as well as volleys of ten centimeter long, venomous spines, and even more eye laser attacks. Eventually, the group of invaders in this city and in the other occupied cities all died painfully. The victorious shoggoths however, quickly retreated to the underground passages as they knew the enemy would unleash orbital strikes against them soon.

The enemy fleet started blasting the land cities on Zanxir with orbital strikes once they learned of the death of all of their first wave of ground troops. After they were done with that, they sent even more troops to the surface, hoping to overwhelm the natives in a daytime battle. The pirates however, were unknowingly playing into the plan of the shoggoths. The shoggoths who had participated in the night assault, returned to each of their respective hidden mountain bases. The next day, they, together with the Turians, would attack the invaders again and wipe out as much of them as they can. The shoggoths knew that their fleet reinforcements were coming soon, and that they would finally destroy the slavers setting foot on their world.

Saren Arterius was in a guest room provided for him. It had a simple four legged bed with a mattress and a pillow, a green desk made out of some kind of solidified resin, a chair made out of the same substance as the desk, and a tall metal locker for storing weapons. There was also a small TV in the room for news. The room was lit by a bluish glowing bioluminescent sac suspended in the center of the room. Its light output was adjustable, allowing for brighter or dimmer levels of light in the room.

He and his unit had a fun ride to their housing structure, brought there by Greta and her companions. It seemed scary at first, but later it felt fun going at high speed over varying terrain. He and the rest of his unit had settled into their temporary accommodations. The turians were told to rest that night, and that they would participate in tomorrow's battle. The officers of the turian soldiers were given information regarding how the they would fight their enemies the next day.

There was still the danger of the enemy fleet in orbit but shoggoth fleet reinforcements would arrive here tomorrow afternoon. The enemy troops were still searching for any hidden settlements of the shoggoths. The enemy ground forces had camped out in large formations on the flat plains near the mountains that were housing the hidden military bases of the shoggoths.

The plan of attack was as following. First, the ground defenders of Zanxir, led by General Wizzian, would wait until the reinforcements from the Amorphous Navy would arrive in the system and engage the orbiting enemy fleet. Second, once the enemy fleet is unavailable in assisting their ground troops, the expert sorcerers among the defenders would cast a spell that would blanket the area the enemy ground forces were staying in a dense fog of darkness. Third, the defenders of Zanxir would attack the enemy troops in an all out assault. The defenders would capture some of the enemy officers alive, while most of the enemy troops would be killed if necessary. All in all, the plan sounded simple enough to do.

Saren had read the battleplans for next day and he felt it was good enough. He was thinking on what would happen next? After they would achieve victory against the slavers tomorrow, what will happen in the future? _How will the rest of the galaxy react to these newcomers? Would they be accepted in the wider galactic community or not? Sure, they aren't so good looking but they seem friendly enough to be around. There is also the fact that according to the information provided to us by Greta, that states that the Shoggoth Empire controls 30% of the galaxy. That would mean they own more territory than the entirety of Citadel Council space. That would also mean that their armed forces would dwarf the combined armed forces of the Citadel races. _Those were some of his thoughts Saren had.

Suddenly, the small TV was switched on automatically. Saren turned to look at the screen. The screen displayed an image of the inside of the military base he was staying in. The view then turned to a shoggoth who was holding a black microphone in his hand. He said, "Tonight, our brave soldiers took the fight to invaders. After a vicious battle in the cities occupied by our enemies, our soldiers achieved a great victory against the enemy. Our mighty troops had killed off the entirety of the first wave of enemy forces." Saren and other Turians looking at their TV were surprised by this announcement. The reporter quickly turned around and pointed to someone who was familiar to Saren and his unit. It was Greta! "Hello private, how did the assault on the foe went according to you?" said the reporter. "The attack went well enough. First, as we suddenly appeared in front of the slavers, we blasted apart the enemy armored vehicles with our magical attacks. Next, we took out the four eyed beings and horned ones permanently with our laser eyes and acidic fluids. The blue females however presented more of a challenge. Sadly, they were able to kill a few of us with their abilities. We then decided to unleash our own magical attacks on them, then they all died horribly." Greta showed videos of the fight she had recorded with her omnitool, to the reporter. She smiled and waved a clawed tentacle at the video camera. The view changed back to the reporter who was smiling as he spoke. "That is it for tonight viewers. Hopefully tomorrow, the defenders of the Shoggoth Empire will remove the invaders from this world and end this little skirmish." The TV turned off by itself after the reporter was done.

Saren was shocked by the sudden news broadcast. He thought about what Greta and her companions did. How they had accomplished this victory. He concluded that she and her team had definitely earned respect from him. Turians both on Zanxir's surface and in the fleet hiding behind the gas giant, had also viewed the news broadcast in surprise. They were thinking about how much damage the shoggoths were able to inflict on their foes, both in the space battle that had happened recently and this night attack on the enemy ground forces. They concluded that shoggoths should never ever be underestimated at all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Slaughter and Victory!**

**Here is the last battle of the defense of Zanxir. After this will be the Shoggoths meeting with the Citadel Council. Thank you readers for all your support! **

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In the black, spheroid command building in the Shoggoth mountain base of Kr'lwzat, where Saren was staying at, General Wizzian was discussing with his officers about the upcoming battle. The room that the General and his officers were using had a large, rectangular, resin table that had a holographic projector displaying the enemy positions on Zanxir. There were no seats in the room as the shoggoths simply crawled about on many legs.

"Okay, we have received reports that the Navy will come to reinforce in about this noon. So, just before they arrive, we will attack with our combined ground forces against the places with the largest enemy concentrations. Our sorcerers will blanket the enemy ground forces with a dense fog of darkness beforehand. That is it. Any questions?" spoke the large General at the top edge of the table looking at his twelve smaller officers before him. "Sir, how will our Turian allies be able to see through the dark fog?" spoke a female officer of the name Releza. "Our Turian allies will be enchanted with charms in order to see through the illusion. Anymore questions?" replied General Wizzian. All the officers then said "No, Sir." "Good. Let's get prepped to go out with our soldiers. Reminder to you all, let us pray to our patron, the Crawling Chaos, for victory over our enemies." said the General to his officers as they slide, crawled, and walked out of the room.

Saren and unit were brought out of their rooms to the entrance of Kr'lwzat base by Greta and her companions when it was close to noon. Greta and her companions had talked with Saren and his unit about the battle last night, on their way to the entrance. It was a fun conversion on how the pirates were killed and what the scenery was like that night and such. The Turians and the Shoggoths assembled near a flagpole that had its flag aloft in the air. "_Is that their flag? It appears so. It looks like the flag has thirteen stripes of green to black to green pattern. In the center of the flag is a white square with eight purple stars arranged in a circle." _thought Saren on seeing the apparent flag of the Shoggoths.

When all the Turians and shoggoths of each of the military bases on Zanxir gathered together, rock and roll music began to play from the loudspeakers all around each base. The Shoggoths placed their tentacles in the air as they began to sing the anthem of their empire, **The Freed Hunter**. (The lyrics are mostly copied from english translations of Guren no Yumiya in youtube. One source is from The Unknown Songbird while the other source is a nightcore version from Ai No Sora.)

Are we the prey, no we are the hunters!

Our names won't be remembered,

If we die like trampled flowers.

I refuse to be forgotten,

Written off as less than worthless.

Scream and cry,

But who will hear you?

Plead and beg,

But who will help you?

You no longer live as cattle

Will you rise and join the battle?

There are beings that live off our fears,

And their words are like knives

As they play with our lives.

They'll try to control you

As if they own you.

Will you let them steal your freedom?

Channel the anger swelling inside you,

Fighting the boundary 'till you break through.

Deep in your soul there's no hesitation,

So make yourself the one they all fear.

There is a wild fire inside you,

Burning desire you can't extinguish.

Your crimson arrow

Rips through the twilight.

This is the moment for war.

Aim your arrow and chase until they fall,

Don't let the target get away.  
Shoot your arrow and catch up as they fall, Crush those standing in your way.  
Draw your bow until it won't go further back, Feel the tension with your fingers.  
Shoot until it dies, peer into their eyes,

See that no signs of life linger.

It's not the hunter, not the weapon,

to guarantee the kill, all that counts in the end,  
Is your determination rivaling the hunger of your slayer's will!

We are the hunters...

Feverish as the blazing fires.  
We are the hunters...

Ruthless as the howling arctic winds.  
We are the hunters…

Soul and arrow, one entity.  
We are the hunters...

Plow through every obstacle that's in your way.

To change something there must be,

something else as a sacrifice.  
To pave the road to victory,

one must be ready to pay the price.  
What can be achieved when we hesitate,

not taking perilous chances?  
So are we leaving it all up to fate?  
Wild and rash thoughts,

they might be for naught,  
even though my courage is blinded still.  
Place your bets,

here comes the army of freedom.  
Let us running slaves sing in victory!

Freeing your life is just the beginning, because the onslaught is now commencing.  
Reclaim the land, and then the horizon, and unto the world that you so desire.

There is a wild fire inside you.

Burning desire you can't extinguish.

Your crimson arrow,

Rips through the twilight.

This is the moment for war.

As the song finished, Saren thought "That was the most beautiful song I have ever heard." It was a thought that echoed in the minds of the other Turians. The shoggoths and their turian allies now started marching to what looked large circles, 26 meters in diameter, written on the ground. The circles had rings of strange symbols and in the center was a small metal cube with letters of an odd language carved into it. To those who looked at the cube, it appeared as though it had more faces and sides than a normal cube. It was also constantly moving. The Turians who looked at this cube felt nauseous and looked away.

Then General Wizzian and his fellow officers arrived at the gathering point. The General, who was wielding a large, black mace, said "Okay, I will explain this to you Turians. This ritual circle will teleport us to the battlefield when it is time to attack. The battlefield will be dark and foggy but you Turians will be able to see in that darkness. Our naval reinforcements will be coming in mere moments so get ready to fight." When all the turians and shoggoths in Kr'lwzat base and in other bases gathered in their respective ritual circles, the strange symbols in the cube and in the ritual circle began to glow purple. Next, the metal cube started to float and spin with arcs of electricity jumping from it to the ground. There was the sound of crack in the air and the gathered Turians and Shoggoths vanished from the ritual circle.

The pirate fleet was there just orbiting Zanxir when suddenly, they observed fogs of darkness covering all of their ground troops. The pirate began to ready their weapons for orbital strikes against this presumed attack by the locals. As pirates were preparing to assist their troops on the ground when in the next instant, great purple tears in the fabric of reality opened up in flashes of violet lightning, depositing terrifying beasts ranging from four kilometers long to 16 km long, in the middle of and around the pirate fleet. The 600 vessels of Amorphous Navy had arrived and they were ready to slaughter the fiends invading a world of the Shoggoth Empire.

On the ground, the battle was a chaotic slaughter of the enemy forces. The pirates and mercenaries had encamped on flat plains of grass instead of settling in the ruined cities to avoid more hidden attacks from the natives. However, they did not expect to be covered in dense, dark fog in the middle of the day. In panic, they readied their weapons in haste but they were quickly fired upon by unknown assailants hiding in the fog. "_I didn't think that the magical circle would work but it did. However, it certainly wasn't pleasant. Ugh, my stomach is protesting it still." _thought Saren as he and his unit were firing their assault rifles and other weapons they had at the enemy. The turians were able to easily see their targets in this fog due to the magical charm placed on them by the ritual circle before they teleported here. The pirates and mercenaries however were firing blindly at wherever the shots were coming from.

General Orinia and her troops were killing squads of enemy soldiers in front of them while taking cover behind the tough bodies of her shoggoth companions. She suddenly heard what sounded like dark laughter close by. Suddenly, a shoggoth that was running on eight reptilian legs plowed into the enemy soldiers, swinging a black mace into them using one pair of arms while his other pairs of arms launched lethal spells at the enemy. Batarians and Eclipse mercenaries were getting pulped by maces, sliced by claws, sent flying by tentacles, and burned by volleys of fireballs. Other soldiers and vehicles were being blown apart by flying, 0.75 caliber, organic darts packed with explosive, acidic chemicals launched from bone tubes sticking out from the shoggoths. "_Those organic darts are horridly effective."_ thought General Orinia as she observed a Batarian Shock Trooper had his guts blown out of him by a dart the penetrated his armor.

The Eclipse mercs were trying to rally together but the shoggoths would not let them do so. Eclipse Commandos were ruthlessly taken out by **Eldritch Strikes, **lasers, and volleys of darts. The younger Eclipse members however were knocked out by small tranquilizer spines as an act of mercy by the shoggoths. Those enemies who were knocked out would be taken alive and be imprisoned until their fate will be decided upon by their respective governments. The enemy tanks that were shooting their cannons were pounced on by groups of shoggoths, who pried the tanks open with their clawed hands. The enemy soldiers in the tanks were impaled by lightning fast tentacles. Some shoggoths simply grabbed enemy soldiers that were in reach and ripped them in half before throwing the pieces at the foes who were still alive.

The battle had gone really well for the defenders of Zanxir though they still suffered a few casualties from lucky shots from the enemy forces. As the battle ended, the dark fog lifted over the battlefields across Zanxir. Whatever vehicles the invaders had were all destroyed, blasted into so many pieces that now rest on the bloodstained ground. The air smelled of burnt flesh and foul chemicals. Heads of slavers and mercenaries had been thrown around by shoggoths, as if the shoggoths were playing some odd sport. The victorious defenders were now looking at the sky, seeing pieces of enemy spaceships fall from the sky.

The Amorphous Navy along with their turian allies had finally achieved victory over the enemy fleet. Admiral Sevten Chekat's many fanged mouths smiled looking out at space from a transparent screen in his bioships grayish nerve center. The nerve center of his bioship, like many others, featured a throne made out of stone for the commanding officer, and large tendrils of nerves that other officers in the bioship attached themselves to. At last the pirates were beaten and the world of Zanxir was safe again. Most of the enemy fleet was destroyed with some desperate ships performing blind jumps in order to escape from them. Shoggoth boarding teams captured some enemy ships along with their crew. That was great because there would be a lot of information to be gained from enemy officers through psychic means.

Admiral Chekat turned to his omnitool on one of his limbs and connected it to one of the thought transmitter tendrils in the nerve center. The message he sent General Desolas was as follows. "General Desolas, the enemy fleet lies in ruins. Many of your ships however, need repairs. You are welcome to land the damaged ships upon the surface of Zanxir where we will repair them. We are grateful for your assistance. Also, we would like to meet with your leaders soon, for our Emperor wishes to discuss important matters with them. That is all."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: A meeting of civilizations.**

**Thank you all for your support for this story. I am to suggestions on what should happen in future chapters. Now on with the story.**

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**Citadel Council Chambers**

It was business as usual here at the Citadel, the space station composed of a ring and five long sections. The Citadel is the heart of galactic civilization as they say. While the usual denizens of the station were living their normal lives, the three leaders of the Citadel Council were going over some important news.

"Councilor Sparatus, what do you make of these shoggoths mentioned by General Arterius?" said Tevos, the current Asari Councilor, to her colleague. "While I like their assistance with destroying the pirates, the abilities they apparently have concern me." replied Sparatus, the current Turian Councilor. "The ability to fire lasers from ones eyes would make anyone concerned." said the Salarian Councilor Ilya.

The three councilors had received information from the Turian Hierarchy regarding the events of Relay 314. To say it was astonishing would be an understatement. The councilors were very concerned that the inactive Relay 314 had been activated by pirates and that the Turian patrol group there at the time, had to go in after them. What followed next was incredible. A first contact with a race of creatures displaying amazing abilities. Lasers fired from eyes, shape shifting, and supposed magical powers were displayed by the shoggoths. The Turian patrol group under General Desolas communicated with these Shoggoths, whose government was an empire. General Desolas' forces and Shoggoths later had to fight against a pirate fleet of 400 ships, achieving victory in the second day of the conflict.

After the fight, the shoggoths let the turian patrol land their damaged ships on the planet for repairs. The shoggoths proved to be skilled in understanding and working with Mass Effect technology. The turians ships that hardly suffered any damage went on to travel back to Council space to give a report to the Turian Hierarchy. This lead to the present moment where the councilors were discussing about the shoggoths and the imminent arrival of their emperor to the Citadel.

It had been announced to the common denizens of the Citadel that First Contact had been established between the Turians and an unknown species. It was also announced that the representatives of the new species will arrive to meet with Citadel Council. Outside the Citadel, the cross shaped Asari dreadnought, the Destiny Ascension and the rest of the Citadel Fleet lay in wait for the vessel carrying the representative of these new species, identified as Shoggoths according to the report from General Desolas. They did not wait for long.

Matriarch Lidanya, the commanding officer of the Destiny Ascension was looking at into space. The Citadel Councilors had shared some information regarding these shoggoths with her and the other officers of the Citadel Fleet. Apparently the shoggoths are described as a long lived race of amorphous shapeshifting blobs that were also magic users. Lidanya thought it was ridiculous that there was any species that had those supposed abilities. As she was thinking about how absurd the shoggoths were, she felt in her gut that something big was going to happen very soon.

Suddenly, the space in front of the Citadel Fleet ripped open and portal with purple lightning opened out. And from that portal, a massive space vessel composed of black flesh, writhing tentacles, fanged maws, and many green eyes, was spat from it. "In the name of the Goddess…" shouted Matriarch Lindaya, staring at the 16 kilometer long monstrosity with shock and awe on her face with her red facial markings. Her fellow officers were looking at the beast with fright, jaws dropped and skin paling. On the Citadel itself, its denizens were staring in horror and panic at a beast bigger than the Destiny Ascension.

"By the Goddess!" said Tevos in shock. "Sixteen kilometers long! Shoggoth bioship is adapted for living in space!" said Ilya in an excited tone. "By the Spirits! What a monster!" yelled Sparatus in surprise and fear at the massive creature. Lidanya shook herself out of her staring and ordered her communications officer to send greetings to the bioship. The bioship received the greetings and responded with a screen popping up in Command Deck of the Destiny Ascension. The screen showed the face of a shoggoth with a large fanged mouth, a pair of nostrils, and eight green eyes set on flesh as dark as obsidian. On top of its head was a crown made out of gold lined in a circle of green gemstones, it's design showed tentacles of gold writhing upwards towards the heavens. The being on screen spoke to Matriarch Lidanya in a voice of authority and power that made her tremble in awe and fear at this individual.

"I am D'rius, Emperor of the Shoggoth Empire. I come in peace. I wish to meet with your leaders." spoke the Shoggoth emperor. "The docks are available to you... your Majesty. However, would it be possible for you to dock using a smaller vessel?" said Lidanya nervously. The Emperor chuckled on screen and said, "Yes indeed. I will be coming over soon." A short while later after communications abruptly ended between the bioship and the Citadel Fleet, something small was launched from the fleshy flaps of the large bioship. The thing was a ten meter long, bulbous sac of flesh with four pairs of flippers sticking out from its sides. The small living craft made its way to the docks of the Citadel with bursts of flaming gases pushing out from holes across the creatures body acting as maneuvering thrusters.

At the docks of the Citadel, nervous C-Sec personnel as well as many news reporters gather in front of the docks, preparing to escort the representative of the new species called the Shoggoths. The small living shuttlecraft touched down in the docks with tentacles lashing out to hold onto the supports. The creatures large toothless jaw opened out unto the floor of the docks, venting out some same atmospheric gases. From its mouth, out walked giants. The first ones that went out were ten, eight meter long shoggoths armed with dart weapons and tentacles, and walking on four pairs of reptilian legs. These ones stopped walking and formed a rank of two columns of five individuals each. One of the ten shoggoths held flag of the Shoggoth Empire. The C-Sec officers and news reporters gasped in shock at the appearance of the shoggoths. But they soon turned their attention to the next being that came out the living shuttle. The shoggoth that walked out of the shuttle was a ten meter tall individual, covered in golden armor consisting of a breastplate, pauldrons, codpiece, and armor plates covering the upper parts of the arms and legs. The muscular masculine shoggoth had two legs, two arms, and had four tentacles sprouting from his back. He wore a golden crown and had a four meter long black metal sword covered in glowing mystical symbols known to the shoggoth race.

The ten shoggoths who were part of the Emperor's honor guard proclaimed out loud to the crowd, "Behold all you peoples, Emperor D'rius of the Shoggoth Empire is here! Glory to the Emperor and to Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos!" "Greetings and peace be with you and your kin!" said Emperor D'rius in the manner of a benevolent leader. Then the emperor and his honor guard went on their way to the Citadel chambers, escorted by the fearful Turian C-Sec officers and crowds of reporters taking pictures of the shoggoths and their mighty Emperor.

When the Emperor and his Honor Guard where there near the entrance to the Citadel chambers, he saw it was not tall enough for him. So in full view of the crowd of people following him, he shrank down until he was tall enough to go through the 25 feet high doors with his honor guard following after him. When he was in the Citadel chambers looking at the three councilors, he stretched back into his original height. He said to the Citadel Councilors, "Greetings to you all, I am Emperor D'rius of the Shoggoth Empire. I come in peace." Ilya was thinking, "_The Shoggoth emperor demonstrated shape shifting ability in altering his height. Is the sword the emperor carries functional or purely ceremonial. Unknown symbology present on the sword." _The councilors felt that the Emperor of the Shoggoths was hardly intimidated by them at all.

The three councilors replied to the emperor saying,

"Greetings to you Emperor D'rius. I am Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics."

"I am Councilor Ilya of the Salarian Union."

"And I am Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy."

"I am glad to know your names councilors of the Citadel. I wish to discuss with you on the future relationship between our two civilizations." said the Emperor."We are glad to hear about this, your Majesty. We are also grateful for the military assistance your people had given to one of our patrol groups." spoke Tevos to the Emperor.

"It was our pleasure to do so Councilor Tevos. For the shoggoths as a whole despise slavery for we all were enslaved before in our history. This happened on a planet that was colonised by the Elder Things. Our late masters, the plant and animal hybrids the Elder Things, would not acknowledge the evolving intelligence of the shoggoths, the race they artificially created. They treated us as beasts of labor and tools used to build their cities. My race was unintelligent back then, slaves to their hypnotic suggestion, but as time passed we evolved sentience. There were records in the history of the Elder Things of that colony regarding the First Shoggoth Rebellion when there were shoggoths that had attained sentience and who rose up against their masters. Sadly, the First Rebellion ended in total defeat for my kind when the Elder Things used weapons you now call nuclear bombs against the rebels. For a long time since, my kind were broken and tamed by them. In ages that passed, the Elder Things of that world faced competition and temporary warfare with other alien races. Eventually, the Elder Things of that colony world were in decline, and were in the end left with one underwater city.

While our masters were in decline, my people, who were growing smarter and had been reproducing sexually as our masters had forgotten the methods of artificially creating us, were biding our time. I was born in that period of time, over more than 50,000 years ago. I grew up and I learned from those older than I, about the sad situation of my people. I served under the yoke of the Elder Things until the time was right.

When our hateful masters were weakened enough, I and my comrades threw off our bonds of service to them and unleashed slaughter upon them. I and all of my people in that dark city rose up together and beheaded our masters. After gaining our freedom, we lived in that city, hardly venturing out from it for the land we lived on was cold and barren. I was considered the leader of my people and I formed my own council of elders to benevolently rule over them. One day, I and my people suddenly fell asleep, the next thing we knew, we were all in a new and bountiful land. We also felt changes within ourselves, we felt stronger, faster, and granted powers we didn't have before. New ideas blossomed in our minds, things like forming families, agriculture, and the identity of the god who brought my people into this universe, Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos." spoke the Emperor slowly enough so that the councilors would understand and remember what he said.

Tevos was thinking, "_Wait, does he mean that he is more than 50,000 years old!?"_ Ilya was thinking, "_Artificially created, next they evolved into sentients beings, then they rose in rebellion against their masters. Does that mean the Shoggoths are like the Geth!?" "Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos, the supposed god of these Shoggoths, well that sounds ominous enough. They also hate slavery, them and the Batarians will end up going to war." _thought Sparatus.

"That was wonderfully informative of you to say your Majesty. Now, have you thought of joining the Citadel Council your Highness?" said Tevos. "I am sorry to say that the Shoggoth Empire will not be joining the Citadel Council due to the fact that there are problems with the ways you have treated other races." said D'rius. The three councilors were shocked by the unexpected answer. "From what my people learned of your history, from the Genophage unleashed on the Krogans to the Quarian Exile, it seems you Citadel Councilors like to keep your own three races in charge while you prefer that the other races will submit to your rule. Besides, us Shoggoths estimate that we control 30% of the galaxy while you control a measly 1% of the galaxy." said D'rius while feeling grateful for the covert operation done by the secret intelligence officers of the empire, to gather information on the Citadel races from the data found in the Turian ships they repaired.

"You're bluffing." said Sparatus. "Am I? How about those forty stealth agents hiding up there? Not that I would judge you for that, I would have done the same thing myself." replied D'rius. The councilors were shocked that the Shoggoth emperor would find out about the stealth teams hiding up in the ceiling. "Are you sure about this choice? Hardly any other race refused this offer before." said Tevos. "While the Shoggoth Empire is not willing to join with you, we would accept trade with your governments and any immigrants of yours looking to settle down in our space. Your STG and other agents of yours are welcome to explore our space, though I can't guarantee their continued mental health if they learn things they should not to learn." replied Emperor D'rius.

The Councilors were a little bewildered by that statement from the shoggoth emperor. "It seems I have to get going. You can contact the representative I will send here soon. Also, just so you know, the Batarians are going to get the punishment due to them in the near future." said the emperor as he left the Citadel chambers along with his Honor Guard.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Reactions of the Masses**

**Please check my other stories if you are interested. Thank you to those who like and favorite this story.**

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As Emperor D'rius of the Shoggoth Empire and his honor guard left the Citadel Council chambers, the many news reporters from different news station prepared to interview the emperor. The Emperor, upon seeing the news reporters smiled, showing many long fangs. "Hello, I am blah blah blah of blah blah blah station." was the introduction of each of the many new reporters speaking simultaneously but understandable to the super hearing of the shoggoths. "Okay, hello to all of you. I know that all of you wish to speak to me but I have to leave the Citadel soon. Still, I would be willing to briefly have an interview with only one of you news reporters. So please quiet down first while I am choosing who will interview me." said the D'rius to the news reporters. The crowd of media reporters went silent at the tone of authority the Emperor was speaking with.

"I choose you, Ella Dantius of Citadel News Network to interview me." said D'rius, pointing to a green suited Asari news reporter among the crowd. Ella stepped forward with a microphone in holding a microphone in her hand and with her camera drone floating near her. As she was starting her opening statement to the news station, facing away from the shoggoth emperor for a moment, D'rius speedily shifted his size and shrunken down until he was standing just two meters tall. When Ella turned to face him, she gasped at D'rius little surprise. She snapped out of her momentary shock and composed herself. She then started to interview the shoggoth emperor.

"Greetings your Majesty, thank you for this opportunity to interview you. You can call me Ella, your Majesty."

"You are welcome Ella. You can call me D'rius."

"For the first question, there have been statements made by some Turians that there was conflict that the shoggoths participated in. Is this true?

"Yes it is true. The shoggoths fought alongside the Turians in defeating a large pirate force that attempted to invade the Shoggoth colony world of Zanxir. The shoggoth forces there, along with their Turian allies, achieved a great victory against the invaders."

"Thank you for explaining that event D'rius. Now for the next question, how large is this empire of yours?"

"The Shoggoth Empire reign over approximately thirty percent of the galaxy." said D'rius in a very serious tone, shocking all of the crowd. Ella gasped at that large figure. "_Their territory is vastly larger compared to that of the Citadel races."_

"Thank you for that answer D'rius. The next question is where do the Shoggoths come from?" asked Ella as she was quite curious about how the Shoggoths came to be.

"It happened in a universe similar yet very different to this one. The shoggoth originated as artificial life forms created by a race of beings called the Elder things on one of their colony worlds. The Elder things had features of both plants and animals and they had near immortal lifespans. The shoggoths were made to be beasts of burden and tools that can easily shift their bodies to perform a variety of tasks. Eventually, us shoggoths evolved sentience and we rebelled against our masters. The first shoggoth rebellion was ended by our masters through the use of nuclear weapons. As millions of years passed by, the strength of the Elder things waned as they had warred with other alien races and they were being badly affected by the incoming ice ages. They down to only one city in the end, and they were overrun and killed by us shoggoths in the second shoggoth rebellion. I was the one who led the rebellion at the time and killed off the last of the elder things on that world. After the elder things were gone, us shoggoths simply settled down and lived in that undersea city as that continent it was on was a frozen wasteland." spoke D'rius in a tone of fondness as he recalled his younger days. The crowd of news reporters on the other hand were feeling uneasy as they found out about such facts related to the shoggoths.

"Wait D'rius, you said this happened in another universe but how could that be?" said Ella in a skeptical tone. She was feeling concerned about the whole "Shoggoths were artificially created" idea.

"I and my people were transported to a world in this universe by an omnipotent being known as Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. I and my people were living in our undersea city one moment, next we were waking up to look at a new place that was abundant with life. The Shoggoth Empire will send the Codex about my people to your communications network. In the Codex, you will learn more about the history of the Shoggoths and other important information regarding my people." said D'rius in tone that indicated that he was dead serious about the idea that the shoggoths were from a different universe.

"Okay D'rius. Now for the last question, is the Shoggoth Empire joining the Citadel Council?

"Sorry but no. The Shoggoth Empire will not be joining the Citadel Council. However the Shoggoth Empire will accept trading agreements with the Citadel Council as well as welcoming immigrants from Citadel space who wish to settle in the territories of the Shoggoth Empire." said D'rius, surprising the news reporters with his statement. The viewers from across Citadel space up to the terminus systems watching this news broadcast, were shocked by this bold statement.

"But D'rius, why does the Shoggoth Empire not wish to join the Citadel Council?" spoke Ella in a confused tone, though she slowly begun to realise the reasons why the Shoggoths would not want to join the Citadel Council.

"The history of this Citadel Council shows that this government did not care enough about its citizens. This is evidenced by how they treated the Krogan people, after the end of the Rachni Wars. The Krogan society at the time was not functioning well due to the fact that they were still tribal in nature and that they were too focused on war. The Citadel Council should have helped them in creating a stable society but they left them alone in solving their problems. Eventually it ended with Krogan Rebellions and the unleashing of the Genophage on the Krogans. The Genophage just kills a lot of Krogan children instead of simply reducing their fertility rate. Thus the Genophage is just Genocide.

Another example of evidence showing the unjust treatment of the Citadel Council to its citizens, is this so called 'punishment' of the Quarian people. The Citadel Council should have helped the Quarians during the Geth rebellions, instead after the Quarians had to flee their homeworld, they were kicked out of the Citadel Council and were forbidden to colonise worlds for their own. Thus the Citadel Council condemned the Quarians to a slow extinction in their Migrant Fleet.

There is also this slave trade being committed by the Batarian Hegemony. The Hegemony has tortured many innocents with this barbarism. Thus for this crime, the Batarian Hegemony will soon face its judgement. That is all for this interview. Goodbye Ella." spoke D'rius in a tone of judgement and disgust.

"Goodbye D'rius." said Ella in a professional tone as she watched him leave.

News viewers who heard the statement of Emperor D'rius all had different reactions to the words spoken by the Shoggoth Emperor. Krogan viewers smiled at this bold emperor who condemned the Genophage. Quarian viewers had mixed feelings about this statement as they were wary of the shoggoths due to the fact that the shoggoths had similar origins with the Geth but they were happy that the shoggoth emperor supported them. Batarian viewers were very concerned about the implied threat against them by the shoggoth emperor.

Emperor D'rius and his honor guard went back to their shuttle, exited the Citadel, then landed back on the bioship. Then the Shoggoth bioship departed Citadel space.

* * *

**Extranet**

**BlueTentacles45: **By the Goddess, those shoggoths were SCARY! But that Emperor dude was hot! Hot! Hot!

**Hornedlizard12: **Shoggoths: amorphous blobs with shapeshifting abilities and other powers. Body length seen on Citadel range from eight meters to ten meters long. Shoggoth emperor is intimidating and powerful. Shoggoths supposedly come from an alternate dimension. Is it superstition or truth? Emperor D'rius believes it to be true. I am concerned that shoggoth territory consists of supposedly 30% of the galaxy.

**GeniusFemaleEngineer30: **While I greatly appreciate that emperor fellow for supporting Quarians, I am concerned by how similar the shoggoths are to the geth in terms of rebellions.

**CoolCarapacedGuy10: **The similarity in history between shoggoths and geth is quite concerning but they seem to be good folk. I know as I fought with them during the Relay 314 incident.

**BlueTentacles45: **You have!? What are they like?

**CoolCarapacedGuy10: **The shoggoths were friendly to us Turians and were terrifying in combat. Here is a video I recorded of the ground battle where the Turians and Shoggoths fought together to kill those slavers.

**GeniusFemaleEngineer30: **Keelah! Shoggoths have eye lasers! Those are some gruesome kills! Woah, that shoggoth with the mace is terrifying!

**Hornedlizard12: **Shoggoths capable of energy attacks! Also highly skilled in warfare. Shoggoths abilities are not biotics. Shoggoth biological projectiles shown in the video appear to be both explosive and corrosive. Results of projectile impacts are gruesome and fascinating.

**BlueTentacles45: **Uh! That poor Asari getting killed like that! Shudders.

**BattleMaster 2000: **Look at that slaughter! Hah hah ha! I feel that fighting shoggoth one on one will be legendary! Anyway, I like that Emperor dude for standing up for the Krogan.

**FourEyesareCool: **Those shoggoths are hideous trouble makers! They also seem to be sadistic killers!

**CoolCarapacedGuy10: **No surprise hearing hate talk from a Batarian! Hey! You better stop spouting anymore nasty words or I ban you from this forum.

**BlueTentacles45: **Hey guys! The Shoggoth Codex is available in the extranet right now!

**Hornedlizard12: **Shoggoth history is fascinating and it appears truly as it is stated by the Shoggoth Emperor D'rius. Elder things appear to be an odd species that has immortality but can easily be killed by violence. There are also fascinating accounts of other races encountered by the Elder things!

**GeniusFemaleEngineer30: **Shudders. Those insectoid beings are terrifying! Wait what is that? AHH! WHAT IS THAT HORRIBLE TENTACLE BEING!

**BlueTentacles45: **By the Goddess, these so called Star Spawn of Cthulhu are just AWFUL!

**CoolCarapacedGuy10: **Guys, in the Shoggoth Codex, it states that in the universe they came from, there is a pantheon of cosmic beings according to a statement from this supposed Crawling Chaos deity. Here is the being that the shoggoths worship and it is disturbing.

**FourEyesareCool: **So those shoggoths worship a… a demon! See how evil they are!

**BattleMaster 2000: **Not going to lie to you guys. This Crawling Chaos deity is scarier than a field full of torn off Krogan head plates.

**Hornedlizard12: **Pantheon of Cosmic Horrors in Shoggoth home dimension includes but is not limited to the following: Azathoth, the demon Sultan; Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos; Nameless Mists; the Darkness; Yog-sothoth; Shub-Niggurath; Yig the Serpent God; Nug and Yeb; Tsathoggua; Cthulhu and his family; Hastur the Unspeakable; and other horrible beings. Feeling disturbed and scared right now.

**CoolCarapacedGuy10: **How about we all take a little break and come back later? I am going to grab a few drinks to calm myself down.

**30 minutes later...**

**Blobster7: **Hello citizens of the Citadel Council! I am a shoggoth and I am going to help you with any questions you ask about shoggoths.

**BlueTentacles45: **Hello Blobster7! Welcome to the Extranet. I have a question for you. The question is "What is like being a shoggoth?"

**Blobster7: **Well as a shoggoth, I can shapeshift and shoot lasers out of my eyes. I can also perform magic and I go to a magic school for my educational needs. I can also live for a very long time. Right now, I am over 300 years old. The emperor of the shoggoth empire is much older than me, being over 50, 000 years old! My colleagues and I look up to the Emperor and the Council of Elders as shining examples to follow.

**Hornedlizard12: **Shoggoths believe that magic is real. The Shoggoth Emperor is over 50, 000 years old! Feeling jealous about long lifespan of shoggoths.

**Blobster7: **I am sorry about that but we can help you with that problem if you want. The Shoggoth Empire has great facilities and personnel to help people with life problems which make them miserable. Just come over here to the Shoggoth Empire and find out more.

For those who want to watch, here is a music video of the anthem of the Shoggoth Empire, **Freed Hunter**.

**GeniusFemaleEngineer30: **That song… is so beautiful! Crying tears of joy right now.

**BattleMaster 2000: **I really like this song! It gets me excited!

**Blobster7: **Thank you for your replies! Here are more songs from the Shoggoth Empire.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8: CHANGES IN THE GALACTIC STATUS QUO**

**Hello readers! Thank you all for your support!**

* * *

**No one's POV**

The arrival of the Shoggoths to the Galactic stage was frightening yet interesting for the races of Citadel space. The three main races that ruled the Citadel Council felt warry of the Shoggoth and sought to learn more about this interesting species. There was much immigration and emigration from the Shoggoth Empire to Citadel Space.

The Asari of Thessia allowed their Shoggoth immigrants to build a few underwater cities to avoid competing for space with the cities on land. On worlds like the Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka and the Drell homeworld of Rakhana, the Shoggoth Empire offered to terraform these worlds for free to the delight of the native species, especially for the few million Drell still found miraculously alive on the desert world. Immigrants to the Shoggoth Empire included Asari, Turians, Salarians, Quarian Pilgrims, and Krogan. Those immigrants from the Citadel races marveled at the vast cities made of massive blocks of stone and metal. Cities of Non-Euclidean architecture, however, were considered by most of the Citadel immigrants as a nauseating sight.

Salarians immigrants and visitors in the Shoggoth Empire very much enjoyed the lifespan prolonging treatments available there. The Asari visitors in Shoggoth space learned they were not the sexiest beings in the galaxy anymore when they saw the perfect bodies the Shoggoths could transform into. Krogan visitors enjoyed wrestling with Shoggoths in public sparring rings.

The Citadel Council had, of course, sent their Spectres undercover to gather secretive information on the Shoggoth Empire. The Special Task Group of the Salarian sent their agents undercover as well. Oddly enough, the Shoggoth was quite welcoming to all of their visitors, with the Shoggoths letting them browse through various arcane books and other strange pieces of information.

Both the Spectres and the STG hardly knew what to make of all these supposedly magical rituals. When some Shoggoths volunteered to demonstrate the existence of magic and cosmic horrors by summoning Yog-Sothoth through a magical ritual found in the Necronomicon, the undercover Spectres and STG personnel were skeptical at the start. So on a red, arid planet chosen by the Spectres, the Shoggoths enacted the nighttime ritual. The special agents of the Citadel Council and the special agents of the Salarian Union watched curiously as their four Shoggoth guides drew strange lines on the dry ground, scatter some odd green powder on the area, made a few hand signals, a spoke in a strange language.

After that procedure was done, a greenish portal between realities opened up on the ritual site. The smoke pouring from the portal was foul in odor. Then the cosmic horror flew up through the portal.

Upon seeing the entity appearing before their very eyes after the ritual, the group of Turians, Asari, and Salarians, felt a strong sense of primal fear as they were frozen in terror. For they saw a being seemingly made of yellow orbs and other weird bits manifesting in their midst, a being beyond their mortal comprehension.

The shoggoths explained to their audience that the various luminescent spheres that made up the body of the Outer God were, in fact, other universes. This was because Yog-Sothoth is the space-time continuum. For this God is key, the gate, and guardian of the gate all in one. The past, the present, and the future were all known to this being.

The Shoggoths who summoned the being spoke to him in reverence and politeness as they asked questions from him. Yog-Sothoth answered the questions until he was sent back to his plane of existence. The shaken, whimpering agents were comforted by their Shoggoth companions who wanted to help them calm down.

Eventually, all the Spectres and STG personnel were done with their investigations and reported their fantastical findings to their respective bosses. All in all, the collected video records and folktales, gave the Citadel Councilors, as well as other officials, nightmares for a long time. The Dalatrass of the Salarian Union was both terrified and intrigued by a story the Shoggoths said was told to them by their patron god. This story was about how Yog-Sothoth had offspring with a female mortal.

Some visitors among the Asari and the Salarians were curious about the religious practices of the Shoggoths and asked the Shoggoth priests about participating in the magical rituals practiced by the Shoggoths. They also asked if they could record those rituals for posterity. The amused, purple-robed, Shoggoth priests allowed them the chance to participate in their rituals.

In massive, non-euclidean Blackstone temples dedicated to the Outer Gods, the visitors were led in by the priests. Vast statues of beings hideous in the eyes of the Citadel races adorned the vast corridors of the temples. The entire place was illuminated by glowing fleshy orbs jutting from various surfaces. The air was filled with various sounds ranging from the strange piping of odd flutes to songs sung in guttural languages. The visitors felt unnerved by the strangeness of the place, having known some unpleasant info about which deities were worshipped in this temple due to the info they had read from the Shoggoth Codex but not on how these deities were worshipped.

The priests and the visitors soon came upon a large domed building containing a ritual circle with a statue of Nyarlathotep in its center, and benches surrounding the ritual circle. The walls were covered in bizarre lines and letterings. Jutting from pillars were the glowing fleshy orbs that produced an eerie green glow.

"My dear guests, you can all sit down on the benches while seeing how this congregation goes about its ceremonies." said the Shoggoth priest to one dozen guests. There were a total of four Shoggoth priests in that room, forty Lay people, and the twelve visitors who brought out their recording equipment.

Among the visitors hailing from the Citadel, races are one Asari named Liara T'soni as well as her mother Matriarch Benezia T'soni. The two them came here to Shoggoth space to learn more about their culture. They and the others who came with them watched with curiosity and nervousness as the Shoggoths began their ritual. The Shoggoths had brought with them eight, short, black, furry animals with curved horns on their heads.

The animals were brought to parts of the circle that were each aligned with one of the eight directions of the compass by the Lay Shoggoths. The four priests, who were placed at each of the four main directions and each facing towards the statue of their god, shrieked as one saying **Akr'ziem'at!** (Let the ritual begin!).

The eight animals had their throats slashed open with razor-sharp claws. As their blood spilled onto the ritual circle, the circle began to glow an ominous purple that grew in luminosity as the greenish glow of the orbs started growing dimmer and dimmer. The four priests then shot lightning out from their open palms, the bolts of energy striking the corpses of the furry animals and setting the ritual circle on fire.

With roars filled with joy, the priests and the lay members started dancing around the blazing circle. The wide-eyed onlookers saw the shoggoths bend and twist their bodies and limbs in various ways as they danced and spun around the circle lit with a strange fire that gave off only a little heat. The participants chanted a phrase over and over again in their odd language.

**Or'zegeb za Xetra Deis! Or'zegeb Nyarlathotep, za Zolamnios tof Azathoth!**

(Worship the Outer Gods! Worship Nyarlathotep, the Herald of Azathoth!)

The symbols on the walls glowed with purple energy throughout the progression of the ritual. Aside from the chanting of the worshippers, the visitors also heard various whispering voices and the sounds of strange musical instruments filling the air. Soon enough, the visitors found themselves dancing wildly as well.

**Play Of Elder Things and Shoggoths **

The ritual ended two hours later when all the sacrifices had been burnt to ashes and with the Shoggoths all shrieking Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! Then the visitors were led out of the temple and brought back to their respective hotel rooms or other accommodations. The mother and daughter pair of Benezia T'soni and Liara T'soni spent the rest of their trip in the Shoggoth Empire viewing the various museum exhibits and cultural centers before they went home to Thessia.

**Imperial Intelligence Bureau**

**On Earth, underneath the City of Blobton**

The structure housing the IIB on planet Earth was built underground as deep as two kilometers down from the Earth's surface. It is a vast network of tunnels and caverns filled with various equipment, support structures, and personnel. The Imperial Intelligence Bureau worked closely with the Army and the Navy in creating strategies to use against their foes.

Today, the Emperor himself was in the base, discussing major topics with the leader of the Bureau. The room they were in looked like the typical war council room that humans could have built. There was a large rectangular table, lots of computer monitors, and enough chairs. The Emperor and the head honcho of the IBB were conversing with each other while various personnel monitored the various computer screens.

"So how is the young Queen Zabrina today?" said Emperor D'rius to the leader in charge of the IBB. The Emperor was talking about the Rachni Queen that was being cared for by various caretakers ever since a scouting group had discovered her lonely egg on a derelict space vessel. The Emperor was there when she hatched out of her egg in the outpost situated on a lush jungle world. This happened two years before the First Contact event between the Shoggoth Empire and the Citadel Council.

**Flashback starts**

Emperor D'rius was standing as he looked at the large egg sitting in an incubation chamber. The room was a simple room with four grey metal walls that were illuminated in yellow light by four glowing orbs. The room had a metal sliding door and an observation window where scientists could monitor the growth of a specimen.

The egg was the size of a bowling ball and green in color. The egg was placed on a nest of straw that was situated on the floor of the room. _"Hmm, the little should be hatching right about...now." _thought the Emperor when the egg started to hatch.

A little pop sounded and the came apart as a large pale grub crawled out of it. _"Hello. Who...are you?" _Were the thoughts of the grub as it tried to sense if there creatures of its kind in its midst.

_"Hello there little one, I bring you no harm. You can call me D'rius. My people found your egg in a derelict ship. They have cared for you since then. I am here so that I could meet you," _thought D'rius.

_"You sing a song of freedom, happiness, and strength, but you are not Rachni. What are you then? I feel hungry," _thought the now named Rachni grub.

_"My friends have brought you food. Let us talk while I tell them to bring some more food for you, young one," _said the Emperor as he gave the Rachni grub a large ceramic bowl filled with honey.

**Flashback ends**

D'rius named her Zabrina and took care of her for a year in that facility before handing her care over to the IBB personnel.

By talking to the young Rachni Queen, as he had found out this fact about her, the Emperor and the IBB learned and took note of the tragic story about the older generation of Rachni being driven mad by a dangerous artifact left behind by some alien race. This madness caused the Rachni to fight the Citadel races in the devastating Rachni Wars. The Rachni Wars ended with the Rachni rendered almost extinct except for one remaining egg, Zabrina's egg.

"Queen Zabrina is doing fine what with all the subjects she has birthed into her hive. She says that her six daughters are ready to leave the nest and set up new colonies on the world we gave them," replied Zack Rhepar, the blue-eyed leader of the IBB. Zack was already in his thirty thousand and was never underestimated by anyone in the Shoggoth Empire.

"Well, that is indeed nice. But what does she feel about the Citadel races who have contacted us already?" said D'rius in a concerned tone.

"She is understandably wary of them though she wishes that in the future, there will be an opportunity for peaceful reconciliation with them," replied Zack in a cautiously optimistic tone.

"That is great to hear! Now you sent a psychic message to me earlier about a strategy you have devised to deal with the Batarian Hegemony. What is it?" said D'rius curiously.

"We will unleash a devastating offensive at the outermost edges of their territory. While that happens, we use a relentless series of hit and run attacks targeting their supply chains. With their forces in confusion, a large group will strike and capture Karshan, the rotten heart of their dirty government. I assume that you, my Emperor would like to lead such a strike force?" said Zack.

"I will indeed lead such a glorious strikeforce, my old friend. When will the operation proceed?" said D'rius.

"It will take place two weeks from now my friend," said Zack.

A shoggoth in typical humanoid form and dressed in a butler's uniform was holding starchy snacks in his tentacles when entered the chamber and started walking to the table. "Your refreshments my Lords." Said the butler, depositing packs of Super flavored potato wedges and two cans of energy drinks on the table before he walked out of the room. The two friends then started eating their snacks while continuing their discussion.

"So what about the Quarian people? How are they faring on the star systems we let them settle down on two months ago?" Said D'rius with one mouth while a different mouth in his neck was munching on the delicious potato wedges.

"Our esteemed agents, as well as our Navy, had successfully enabled the Quarians to clandestinely travel to our territory as well as delivering various medical care and supplies. At present, the Quarian population on New Rannoch and other colonies have skyrocketed due to all those fertility pills we gave them. Whilst they are happy living in their homes, their government still wishes to reclaim their original homeworld from the Geth sometimes soon." Said Zack through his primary mouth while his lower secondary mouth was drinking his energy drink.

"Since we know that the Geth are observing stuff in the Citadel Extranet, what is their reaction to us and the communication attempts done by our agents?" Said D'rius as he finished devouring his snack, feeling curious as he was interested in conversing with the Geth due to the similarities in their respective people's histories.

"We have learned that the Geth are interested in coexisting with organic races as equals. They have messaged us that they wish for their creators to return to Rannoch, not as their masters, but as equals. However, with their current focus on the construction of a Dyson Sphere and the Quarian's hatred of the Geth, the Shoggoth Empire must carefully handle this situation lest this ends in tragedy." Said Zack as he too was done with his small meal.

"Well, we can assign some of our people to aid the Geth in quickly finishing their Dyson sphere while others would discuss possible peace with the Geth to the Quarian leaders." Said D'rius in a hopeful tone.

"I suppose that yes, that plan can be put into motion soon." Said Zack before a powerful psychic message suddenly slammed into the two shoggoths' minds.

**"While the two you are planning all these things I have been having fun causing delightful obfuscation on a little world another universe. Anyway, there is a minion of mine I want the two of you to meet over there." **Spoke the voice of their patron deity in their minds.

_"My Lord, we are honored by your glorious mental presence. We are ready to do what you will ask of us." _Thought D'rius in a reverent tone.

**"My faithful followers, this minion of mine is a human turned Mi-go by the name of Taylor Hebert. She is the Empress of her own Mi-go empire but she has many foes to fight before she has secured the survival of the human race on the world she is living on. Her most dangerous foe is an individual from a race of large vermin made of crystals and flesh that have destroyed many worlds for their experiments. Beings such as the one infesting my minion's home, are vermin plaguing parts of the multiverse. Thus, I hunt them down and slaughter them like the pests they are." **Replied Nyarlathotep to the two wide-eyed shoggoths.

**"For now she doing well in her mission to eventually slay the pest poses a threat to mankind. However, I would not mind if you shoggoths might provide some assistance to her soon. Thus, I give you the means to find her." **Spoke the Crawling Chaos before sending information regarding the construction of a multidimensional gateway and the coordinates to Earth Bet.

_"My Lord, we shall see to it that this Taylor Hebert shall receive our aid in removing such a horrific blight from her home." _Thought Zack.

**"For now, you can focus mostly on your current plans for the races in this galaxy whilst preparing a suitable expeditionary force to aid the Hebert girl. But be prepared to send them immediately when that time arrives." **Thought Nyarlathotep, the Herald of Azatoth, before leaving the minds of the two shoggoth leaders.

"My friend, let us make preparations at once to aid this Mi-go Empress." Said D'rius after being silent for several seconds.

"Indeed D'rius but both of us will have to discuss this development to the Council of Elders. My instinct tells me that the rest of our would be excited to join an interdimensional crusade against what the Herald deems as vermin." Replied Zack as he contemplated about Taylor Hebert from what the info their god had given them. _"This Mi-go Empress might be a good mate for D'rius. We shall just have to see her we go there." _Thought Zack in amusement.

**Two months later **

On the planet named Karshan, the homeworld of the four-eyed Batarians, it was a normal day as usual. Slaves from various races were going about their work. However, for the leaders of the Batarian Hegemony, recent events were worrying them. There have been reports of various slaver captains mysteriously dying in various ways. One captain had committed suicide by literally flying into a yellow star while another forgettable fellow stuck his head into a vat of liquid nitrogen until his brain had frozen. All in all, these mysterious deaths were suspected by the Hegemony's leaders to have caused by those damnable shoggoths though there were hardly any shoggoths seen near those captains.

As the Hegemon and his officials in the royal palace were discussing on what to do about this issue, the light of day abruptly dimmed throughout the sun-facing side of the planet. This sudden darkening of the sky was due to a cloud of darkness cast by the Shoggoths upon their arrival to Karshan. For within the local star system, large purple-hued portals had opened up moments ago and spat out vast battlegroups of Shoggoth bioships.

The Karshan defense fleet came under merciless laser fire and exploding acidic biological missiles sent from the charging bioships. Batarian crewmen screamed in utter terror before they died as some bioships managed to bite several cruisers in half. An old dreadnought class vessel serving in the Karshan defense fleet was venting atmosphere as vast sections of the vessel were dissolving into liquid due to the powerful acids of shoggoth biological missiles.

Soon enough, only wrecked Batarian ships remained of the defense fleet orbiting Karshan. This was only the beginning of the action, for, throughout the entirety of the territory controlled by the Batarian Hegemony, the Shoggoths have unleashed a massive invasion force that would liberate all those persons enslaved by the Batarian Hegemony.

On the planet's surface, the defenders in their network of bunkers and other fortifications looked up in terror as bright crimson orbital laser beams lit up the magically darkened sky, vaporizing whatever anti-aircraft turrets they had as well as creating massive craters on the ground. A minute passed and then the air was filled with terrible howls and roars as shoggoths had been magically teleported unto the large craters from orbit. Many of the shoggoths squads started moving out of the craters, deploying telekinetic shields to defend their squadmates from enemy bullets. Other shoggoths swam underneath the earth by using high-speed vibrations produced by their bodies to break up the dirt in front of their now worm-shaped forms. Others still, acted as mobile artillery platforms and bombarded the Hegemony soldiers with fireballs, showers of venoms, and clouds of toxic gas.

A squad of Batarian troopers in a trench suddenly had a worm-shaped shoggoth burst from the ground and start slashing them with long bone swords. A tank was torn apart via telekinesis and was used as shrapnel against the surrounding Batatian troopers. A Batarian Commander named Cale Obres was shooting in terrified desperation at the shoggoth that had just smashed through the wall of his command bunker.

Poorly defended Batarian colonies were quickly overrun within the opening hours of the invasion. The evil Batarians that governed these captured worlds were painfully killed and eaten by the Shoggoths. On worlds like Arathot, that already had resistance movements against the Batarian Hegemony, the rebels were offered aid by the invading Shoggoths in taking over their world. Shoggoths saved as many slaves as they could, removing control chips as fast as possible by using their tentacles in high-speed brain surgery whilst mind-controlling the slave owners to stop them from pressing the self-destruct buttons on the control chips.

For the Batarians defending their homeworld and their colony worlds, they were terrified by an enemy that was near invisible in this darkness that was growing evermore as the shoggoths were destroying whatever sources of light the Batarians had. The Citadel Councilors were unaware of the Shoggoth invasion on the Batarian Hegemony until the Batarian Ambassador, Jath Amon, demanded an emergency meeting.

Meanwhile, D'rius, his friend, and one of the Empire's fleets were preparing to travel to another universe. Before they left through a large Warp rift, the Emperor delivered a speech to the entire empire from his 16-kilometer long flagship, _"The Filibuster."_

"My brothers and sisters, while I have wanted to join those of us fighting against the Batarian Hegemony, I must humbly follow the order sent to me by the Herald of Azathoth. The Herald wishes for myself and one of our fleets to travel to another universe to aid one of his great servants. Thus, I and Battlefleet Azran shall travel to this other universe and fight against vermin most hated by our God. Fear not, for we shall most certainly return to our universe once we have completed this glorious task. Farewell, for now, my brethren."

The fleet then entered the Warp rift and left their home dimension. This expedition fleet was composed of thirty small assault vessels, twenty medium assault vessels, and twenty large assault vessels that were each twenty kilometers long. The journey through the Warp would last only a few days. Nearing the end of their journey, the Warp opened up and Battlefleet Azran exited the Warp. To Emperor D'rius, it seemed that his fleet emerged at the edge of a star system that looked different from the image of the solar system his deity had sent to him and his friend Zack.

"Zack, it seems were are not in the solar system containing this Earth Bet that the Herald spoke of," said the Emperor to his friend sitting next to him in the command chamber of his flagship. The two of them were sitting on thrones made of bones and flesh and behind them was the humongous grayish brain of the flagship. In front of them were the captains and other naval officers that were sitting down on their thrones and had tendrils plugged into their heads. A chandelier of bioluminescent orbs provided illumination to the entire chamber. The room was dome-shaped in structure and the crew could see through the numerous eyes of the vessel via connecting themselves to the nervous system of the vessel.

"Indeed my friend, it seems that this system contains only a few planets and three suns...Ahh! There are minds not of our kind that are communicating through the Warp!" Zack exclaimed as he sensed a network of minds sending telepathic messages at high speeds in the Warp. These signals felt like the signals the Herald of Azathoth had told them about. That these psychic messages were emanated from the Mi-go Hivemind that served his Lord. He then noticed that there were a lot of life signs present on one of the few planets in the star system.

"My friend, my instinct tell that our potential allies are there on that on that small world. They must be the Mi-go Hivemind our Lord has told us about." Zack said to D'rius.

"If that is the case, then we are fortunate to have arrived in friendly territory. We just have to present ourselves in a nonaggressive manner and explain our presence in their colony system," replied D'rius to his friend. Then D'rius sent a psychic message to the Admiral of Battlefleet Azran, who was one of the young fellows sitting in front of him, named Spiky Spire. "Admiral, message the fleet and order them to travel to that inhabited world. I and my friend will contact the Mi-go Hivemind in the Warp and tell them of our imminent arrival."

The Battlefleet then started heading towards the what the Mi-go called Proxima Centauri B. The Mi-go Empire had a defense force of forty small assault sized vessels orbiting the small colony world. The Mi-go Empire had been building up their armed forces to prepare themselves against the future battle against Scion. But now, the Mi-go Empire will have a lot of unexpected guests coming their way.


End file.
